Sample Petrographic Description
Sample Number | MIL 15052 |
Newsletter | 39,2 |
Location | Miller Range |
Field Number | 24134 |
Dimensions (cm) | 10.0 x 9.0 x 4.0 |
Weight (g) | 865.42 |
Original Classification | Iron-IIIAB |
Weathering | |
B | |
Fracturing | |
A | |
Macroscopic Description - Tim McCoy | |
This triangular shaped specimen measures ~10 x 9 x 4 cm with one apex of the triangle rounded, tapering to a thin edge at the opposite side. The upper convex surface exhibits a partial fusion crust, with ragged edges around the center where the fusion crust appears to have spalled off during flight (for comparison, see San Francisco Mts.) Pitting is minor with a few rust halos. The opposite surface is concave towards the tapered end and exhibits the Widmanstätten pattern on the surface, a feature observed in a few other desert meteorites. One apex of the triangle along the thin edge is fractured, suggestive of minor, late-stage breakup of the meteorite during flight. | |
Thin Section Description - Cari Corrigan, Tim McCoy | |
A complete longitudinal section was studied. The meteorite is a medium octahedrite with kamacite bandwidths of 0.8-1.0 mm with taenite regions exhibiting a variety of plessitic structures, including comb plessite. Kamacite lamellae are often cored by schreibersite, which occurs as interspersed grains along the axis of the lamellae. One edge of the section retains an ~1 mm thick well-preserved fusion crust underlain by a thin α2 region. A microprobe traverse across the section yielded an approximate average composition of 8.6 wt.% Ni and 0.40 wt.% P. The Ni and P concentrations (Yang and Goldstein, 2005) and kamacite bandwidth suggest a IIIAB iron. |
Antarctic Meteorite Images for Sample MIL 15052 | ||||
Lab Photo(s) : | ||||